Hey remember that time...

...we were on a farm for 2 weeks with no internet? Yeah, that was fun. We spent those weeks WWOOFing on a family farm in Germany. For those of you that arent familiar with WWOOF, its an organization that links farmers with volunteers who work on the farm in exchang for room and board. They made a lot of the food they ate, and had sheep and alpacas they used to produce wool. It actually was one of the best times we've had on the trip so far, and here's a wrap up of what we did:

•ate food that was new to us. Our hosts raised most of the meat we ate, which included rabbit and sheep liverwurst. They were things we'd never try on our own, but for the most part it was good! We also picked lots of berries--cherries, strawberries, raspberries, and some that may have been currants, but we're not sure. A couple of days after we'd pick them, there'd be fresh jam made from them.

•sheared alpacas. Every 3 years, alpacas are sheared and the wool is used for yarn and bedding. Our visit coincided with 5 of the alpacas' shearing. They do not like being sheared, so Jay had to help hold them down while they got their haircut. Here's a before and after shot of the same alpaca, Willie, and one of Jay helping with the shearing process.









•took care of newborn ducklings. The same day we sheared alpacas, 3 baby ducks were born! We took care of them for the rest of our time there, and today they're 3 weeks old! Here's Jay with two of them:



•made honey. We helped our host family make honey for the first time. We got to watch the honey collection process, and wear bee suits! Unfortunately, we have no picture proof that this took place. Before we left, the family gave us the first jar of honey made at their farm, and we can't wait to try it.

•renovated an old GDR building. Being in eastern Germany was really fascinating. The farm we were on had been used by the GDR for large-scale farming. Consequently, there were lots of old, crumbling buildings on the land. We got to help knock down a wall in one of them that our host family is renovating. Its interesting to see whats left from the old government and how much was just abandoned.



There are lots of other things we did during our time on the farm, like taught kids to felt, referred to gloves as "handshoes" and rode 30 km on our day off for ice cream, and went to a Mozart concert in a 12th century church. Overall it was a great experience; we were sad to leave! If anyone ever needs a WWOOF farm recommendation, we have a good one!!
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